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Weighing In I By EVAN SHIPMAN HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 21. — Local horsemen were shocked to learn of the sudden death of Thomas W. Simmons, at his. Los , Simmons, at his. Los Angeles home early Tuesday afternoon. The news of his fatal stroke passed from box to box just as the program got under way, and it was the opinion of all that the late chairman of the board of the Hollywood Turf Club will be sorely missed. We can attest that he had a warm, engaging personality, together with a keen intelligent enthusiasm for the sport. Owner of Suzy-Q Ranch at Puente, Simmons engaged in breeding on a small scale, and we came to know him after he had flown from England to California with the stallion Radiotherapy, who stood for some time at his ranch. For a long time he confined his limited thoroughbred operations to breeding, but eventually the attraction of racing proved too great and a few horses have been carrying the Suzy-Q -colors at the current meeting, the filly Bellali winning here last Friday. His business operations were extensive, but he always found time for the race, and we are sure that his connection with Hollywood Park brought both him and Mrs. Simmons keen pleasure. He gave pleasure to others, and the atmosphere of this track will continue to reflect his personality. Monte Parke, Bill Finnegan and Jimmy Jones are a trio of trainers who will never underestimate the prowess of the female sex. Each horseman has a filly or mare in his barn who is outstanding:, or promises to be, in her division, and they have covetous eyes on a lot of valuable stakes at this and subsequent meetings. Parkes prospect is the Devil Diver filly, two-year-old Fleet Diver, who just romped here last week and who is starting a campaign that will include the important stakes at Saratoga and Belmont in addition to a couple of local stakes. Finnegans amazon, of course, is Princess Lygia, the miss for whom Louis B. Mayer paid a long price last summer at Chicago and who then went on the shelf temporarily. Returning to action here last week-end, she just missed by a nose to the Iongshot, Tonga, in smart time, but the main point is that Finnegan has her back in resplendent condi-• tion. She will go places from there. As for Jimmy Jones, he has his fingers crossed, and he says that any six-year-old mare who has been a cripple is a big gamble, but he nevertheless has high hopes for Two Lea in such events as the Hollywood Gold Cup. "Just let that ankle stand up a little while, and shell be plenty dangerous," Calumets conditioner told us. If we have ever given the impression that race track beauty is the exclusive property of Belmont Park, it should be corrected. "Beautiful Belmont," because of its great space and wide, sweeping vistas, possesses a unique majesty, but Hollywood and Santa Anita have grounds that are just as carefully tended, just as resplendent with bloom, as the Long Island course. Santa Anita enjoys the inestimable advantage of a superb locale, the snow-topped Sierra Madre Mountains and the gradually risking oak-covered foothills providing an unforgetable background. Less fortunately situated, Hollywood Park has made the most of a location that could hardly have appeared promising to the landscape architect, but art has answered where nature failed, and, today, this track is literally a garden. Behind the grandstand, you find quiet, olive-shaded walks, wide grass plots and pools rich with lotus and exotic water lillies. The walls are covered with hibiscus and climbing roses, and the infield, divided into a succession of small lakes, has been planted with white petunias, whose frothy blossoms rival the waterfalls. At present, white and green is the color scheme of the infield, but it has been the design of the management to add .pink blossoms to the petunias. For out part, we are content with the soberer scheme, nor do we much regret that the pink flowers failed to come up this spring. Last summer, after the running of the Hollywood Gold Cup, All Blues groom proudly flourished a photograph. This picture showed his charge leading Citation past the wire, and the only hitch was that the field still had a mile to travel. "Ten years from now," said the exuberant guinea, "nobody will know that my horse didnt whip Citation." He is wrong. Ten years will pass, and horsemen will still refuse to believe that All Blue ever whipped "Big Cy." All the same, All Blue, for a five-year-old who looks decidedly gimpy behind, can turn on nice heat on occasion, and he looked pretty good in yesterdays Brentwood Handicap, feature of the card, when he held Australian Ace safe and turned back the challenge of the favored Spanish Cream. His 1:43 for the mile and a sixteenth was not sensational, Continued on Page Thirty-One cN c *c Sir i A-Q Vili WEIGHING IN By EVAN SHIPMAN Continued from Page Four but it was proof enough that he can run, especially when there is no Citation or Bewitch in the field, as had been the case last summer. Henry Moreno, on whom the Calumet has first call now, rode a confident race on the unsound veteran, running: down Clifford Mooers Renown, even though it meant traveling the "overland." When he remarked, quite causally, to a gathering of our co-workers that we considered the sentiment connected with the Kentucky Derby to be somewhat synthetic, and not of this year only but for a long time past, our old friend, Hy Schneider, caught us up promptly. Hy, who in our view is a combination of Montana and Long Island rather than a Calif ornian, or a hard boot said, "You may not call it sentiment, but Matt Winn saved the Kentucky breeders back in 1909, the year "racing starved. He knew that the farms would go to "the wall if seme drastic action was not taken, and it was Colonel Winns initiative that launched Juarez, across the border in Mexico, to keep the sport alive. He put a lot of his own money into the venture, but it was too big for any one man, and he had the further job of persuading, selling the idea to a group of associates. "Wait," he said, "I will give you their names. They were all my friends, and, with Winn urging them along, they raised a million dollars — real money in those days. They were: Harry M. Stevens, Jeff Livingston, James Butler —believe it or not — Price McKinney, the butcher boys,* Bill Fenchler and Captain Fred Fenchler, and your own Tom OReillys uncle, Jimmy Corrigan. Those were the boys who pitched in and saved the day, and I think Colonel Matt Winns sentiment for racing was responsible."
